The Books at the Troc

Dan DeLuca

Music Critic

Dan DeLuca is an Inquirer pop music critic. But his "In the Mix" column in the Weekend section ventures further afield, into books, movies, TV, the Internet, graphic novels and anything you might call "popular culture."

Guitarist Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong - together, the band known as The Books - are slyly inventive collagists who specialize in turning found sounds (and video clips) into fascinating and compelling folktronica, by turns brittle and becalming and manically cacophonous. "A Cold Freezin' Night," from the new The Way Out, which is built from samples pulled from old self-help recordings, is on the crazier side, and features a pint-sized battle of the sexes between a boy and a girl talking back at one another. Keep your eye out for the Phillie Phanatic in the clip below. The Books are at the Trocadero tonight for an all-ages show with the Black Heart Procession.